Mud, grass, and other debris can collect on the cleats of golf shoes during a round of play and can create unstable footing leading to injury and/or poor shots. This problem is particularly severe after a rainstorm or when early morning dew is present on the golf course. In response to this problem, many golfing facilities provide cleat cleaning brushes at a number of locations throughout the course. However, in many instances, these brushes are not nearby when needed. Consequently, golfers often will clean their cleats with available items, such as sticks, keys or with their hands. In some instances, golfers carry individual cleat cleaning brushes, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,117 discloses a golf bag mounted cleat cleaning brush. All of such approaches require a golfer to stand on one foot, bend over, and scrape the bottom of his or her shoe. This action is cumbersome, and tends to slow play of the game.
Many golfers use golf carts, and it is convenient and desirable to mount cleat cleaning brushes onto the golf carts. U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,150 discloses a cleat cleaning brush which may be attached to the wheel of a golf cart by a quick release fitting. U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,917 discloses a cleat cleaner which may be mounted to the bumper of an automobile or golf cart. Problems are encountered with cart mounted cleat cleaning devices of the prior art because these devices must, of necessity, project from the cart at a location readily accessible to the golfer and, they must do so with sufficient rigidity to permit the golfer to scrub dirt from his or her cleats. The rigid mounting and accessible location of the prior art cleat cleaners can cause injury to a player who walks into a cleat cleaning brush or is struck by a cleat cleaning brush on a passing golf cart. Similarly, impact with a golfer, a tree or rough ground can damage the brush and/or cart. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,150, a cleat cleaning brush may be mounted or demounted from the wheel of a golf cart by a quick connect coupling when not in use, thereby lessening the likelihood of harm; however, when demounted the brush must be separately stored and is prone to be misplaced. Additionally, the rigid wheel mounting can easily damage the brush and/or cart in the case of impact.
In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there is a need for a cart mounted golf cleat cleaning device. The device should permit the brush to be readily, and rigidly supported for convenient use, but should provide for its safe and simple storage. Additionally, the device should be so configured so as to minimize damage or harm caused by inadvertent impact. As will be described in greater detail hereinbelow, the present invention includes, in a preferred embodiment, a golf cleat cleaning device which is mountable onto a golf cart and which is self-storing. The cleat cleaner of the present invention is, in the most preferred embodiment, maintained in a use position by a spring bias and thus may be easily moved to a storage position and vice versa. Additionally, the device of the present invention is never permanently locked in position and will flip out of the way without breaking or causing harm in the event of inadvertent impact. These and other advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the drawings, discussion and description which follow.